Messed Up

[dostudent13]

Chose EM over Radiology (I say chose because I was told I had a spot and decided not to rank radio programs and go for EM).

I dunno how this made sense to me at the time but right now I really don't understand what I was thinking. I based my decision on how boring my radio rotations were, how I didn't want to study so much for the next 6-7 years, and the whole job market/salary crisis talks. I convinced myself I wouldn't like it and now all I can think about it how much better my life would've been if I had done radiology. I didn't even start intern year yet. This is terrible.

I don't even know why I'm posting this, just wanted to vent.

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[Residentcool]

Chose EM over Radiology (I say chose because I was told I had a spot and decided not to rank radio programs and go for EM).

I dunno how this made sense to me at the time but right now I really don't understand what I was thinking. I based my decision on how boring my radio rotations were, how I didn't want to study so much for the next 6-7 years, and the whole job market/salary crisis talks. I convinced myself I wouldn't like it and now all I can think about it how much better my life would've been if I had done radiology. I didn't even start intern year yet. This is terrible.

I don't even know why I'm posting this, just wanted to vent.

EM is a great gig right now - jobs everywhere, high pay, can work as little or as much as you want. What is it that you don't like about it?

 

[dostudent13]

EM is a great gig right now - jobs everywhere, high pay, can work as little or as much as you want. What is it that you don't like about it?

I like EM a lot but it's not like I'm in love with it. It's obviously a pretty stressful job, usually pretty busy and working like crazy while you're there. It just seems like I purposely chose a more stressful, crazier scheduled job for less pay without it being "the job for me", I could've done either. It's not all about the pay believe me, but when radiology may offer a better lifestyle as well as higher pay, not to mention being a more prestigious specialty, I just feel pretty down about it.

I feel like I may have gotten sucked into EM being "fun". It's one of the few rotations as a student where you're working and helping and feeling more like a doctor, whereas I usually had trouble staying awake during my radio rotations.

Sometimes I still feel like I wouldn't have enjoyed radiology but I just wish I would've given it a shot.

 

[blebb]

Sounds like you messed up bro. Watching rads is boring. Doin rads is awesome.

 

[xrevision]

Perceptions about specialties change over the years. Radiology was not always perceived to be prestigious, and that could change in the future.

 

[neolynx]

"Watching someone else do radiology is like watching someone else play a video game." - anonymous

Sorry you're having second thoughts. If you get into it and really still feel it was a mistake, you can switch during residency. Someone correct me, but you might not even lose time, since you'd need to do a prelim / TY for rads anyway and I think the Match contract obligation is for 1 year before you can jump tracks. (Though matching into a rads spot for the same year would be tricky - few spots available.)

I bet you'll spend a year in ER and feel better about the decision, though.

 

[shark2000]

I highly recommend medical students to go into radiology and avoid ED.

ER job market is better than radiology right now. It is better than most fields right now. But is there a guarantee that it will be good. Why you guys care about how many jobs are there in town? You just need one job.

Doing radiology is OK most of the time, is exciting 10% of the time and is painful less than 5% of the time. Doing clinical medicine esp ER is PAINFUL most of the time, is OK 10% of the time, is horrible 10% of the time and can be exciting once a year.

Radiology is boring as MS because you go into the reading room, is PASSIVE which is what medical students hate most of the time and you do not UNDERSTAND what they talk about. for example they talk about why a liver mass on MR is not FNH but is a colon cancer mets.

You made the wrong choice, IMO. BUT there is a solution. SWITCH.
I have seen people switched from ER, IM, surgery, Anesthesiology, .....

ER is for sure a very over-rated field in medicine.

 

[Residentcool]

I highly recommend medical students to go into radiology and avoid ED.

ER job market is better than radiology right now. It is better than most fields right now. But is there a guarantee that it will be good. Why you guys care about how many jobs are there in town? You just need one job.

Doing radiology is OK most of the time, is exciting 10% of the time and is painful less than 5% of the time. Doing clinical medicine esp ER is PAINFUL most of the time, is OK 10% of the time, is horrible 10% of the time and can be exciting once a year.

Radiology is boring as MS because you go into the reading room, is PASSIVE which is what medical students hate most of the time and you do not UNDERSTAND what they talk about. for example they talk about why a liver mass on MR is not FNH but is a colon cancer mets.

You made the wrong choice, IMO. BUT there is a solution. SWITCH.
I have seen people switched from ER, IM, surgery, Anesthesiology, .....

ER is for sure a very over-rated field in medicine.

No field is overrated if you like it. Some people may love EM, some may love IM, etc. It's a personal decision. I would be careful if I were OP of switching into rads without knowing what he's going into. No one cares whether a specialty is prestigious or not, who decides on a specialty based on that? EM pays well right now for sure and there is a ton of demand but I would agree that it's probably super duper stressful when stuff gets crazy. I personally could not deal with being in ED or the crazy hours even if you only work 14 shifts a week and what not. But gotta be careful with rads these days-going into for "high pay" is a mistake.

 

[shark2000]

No field is overrated if you like it. Some people may love EM, some may love IM, etc. It's a personal decision. I would be careful if I were OP of switching into rads without knowing what he's going into. No one cares whether a specialty is prestigious or not, who decides on a specialty based on that? EM pays well right now for sure and there is a ton of demand but I would agree that it's probably super duper stressful when stuff gets crazy. I personally could not deal with being in ED or the crazy hours even if you only work 14 shifts a week and what not. But gotta be careful with rads these days-going into for "high pay" is a mistake.

ER is over-rated.

Medical students see the superficial part of any field before deciding on residency.

In their IM rotation they see all paper work and do not see the decision making part which is the interesting part.

In radiology, they see the dark reading room, dictation and do not see the exciting aspect.

In ER, they see the interesting part (to them) like putting a central line or CPR, which every medical student loves and most ER attendings hate, AND they do not see dealing with druggies and demanding patients all day.

ER does not have anything by itself that you may like. The only good part is the hours and the pay, i.e. pay per hour. The level of knowledge is superficial and not satisfying and there is nothing cerebral about it. You are a glorified triage nurse. These days the way it is practiced, you can replace an ER doctor with an experienced nurse.

 

[Doctor D]

I was considering ER but after my rotation I thanked God I chose radiology. Pain seekers, an endless stream of people with CP, drunks, with real tragedies mixed in (dead kids, MVAs, etc) while working odd hours and nights. Definitely not for me.

 

[copes]

The ER docs on my rotation were very happy. You just have to pick the right hospital to work in. No one cares about prestige of the specialty. The pay is great and the job itself is MUCH better than internal medicine. What else can you ask for? Doctors are a bunch of complainers IMO. There are several AOA students in my class going into EM. One of them chose EM over radiology.

 

[cowme]

"Watching someone else do radiology is like watching someone else play a video game." - anonymous

Sorry you're having second thoughts. If you get into it and really still feel it was a mistake, you can switch during residency. Someone correct me, but you might not even lose time, since you'd need to do a prelim / TY for rads anyway and I think the Match contract obligation is for 1 year before you can jump tracks. (Though matching into a rads spot for the same year would be tricky - few spots available.)

I bet you'll spend a year in ER and feel better about the decision, though.

that wasn't anonymous, I said that!

OP, you made a bad decision, and I hope it works out ok. This is the exact reason you shouldn't listen to the ***** trolls on auntminnie and just do what you think you would enjoy, after taking the job market, pay, etc out of the equation--these are variables that can change drastically with a single signature in congress.

 

[greg1184]

that wasn't anonymous, I said that!

OP, you made a bad decision, and I hope it works out ok. This is the exact reason you shouldn't listen to the ***** trolls on auntminnie and just do what you think you would enjoy, after taking the job market, pay, etc out of the equation--these are variables that can change drastically with a single signature in congress.

Noooo I said that!!!! I mentioned that a now pedi fellow said that to me, and now I relay it to people who think rads is boring:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=13538387&highlight=video+game#post13538387

 

[copes]

Chose EM over Radiology (I say chose because I was told I had a spot and decided not to rank radio programs and go for EM).

I dunno how this made sense to me at the time but right now I really don't understand what I was thinking. I based my decision on how boring my radio rotations were, how I didn't want to study so much for the next 6-7 years, and the whole job market/salary crisis talks. I convinced myself I wouldn't like it and now all I can think about it how much better my life would've been if I had done radiology. I didn't even start intern year yet. This is terrible.

I don't even know why I'm posting this, just wanted to vent.

I think you should post on the EM forum. Doesn't seem like anyone here is going to try to make you feel better...lol

 

[cowme]

great minds think alike. I'm too lazy to dig up the post, but I said the same thing earlier this year

 

[Residentcool]

that wasn't anonymous, I said that!

OP, you made a bad decision, and I hope it works out ok. This is the exact reason you shouldn't listen to the ***** trolls on auntminnie and just do what you think you would enjoy, after taking the job market, pay, etc out of the equation--these are variables that can change drastically with a single signature in congress.

I don't think the OP necessarily made a bad decision. EM has its good parts and its bad parts like every specialty. Going on the rads bandwagon that everything is super is not wise. Sure, rads has some great aspects to it, including it being a very cerebral specialty, you really get to impact just about every patient that comes through the hospital, you can do a lot for pts if you are good, you can be an essential part of their care, there isn't the life or death stress of things like EM, and the pay used to be amazing. But that doesn't mean that the excess work, the declining pay, the lack of patient contact, the commodization of the specialty is that great. Come on people.

I personally would not go into EM, I hated every single EM rotation, the hectic schedule, the difficult patients, I couldn't stand the bossy triage nurses, the demanding patients, the shifting hours, etc. But EM like every other specialty has its perks. I prefer a more normal 8-5pm or whatever vs. the 12-7 or 3-10pm or whatever the crazy schedule might be. I remember talking to someone who matched in EM a few years ago and he said he thought all that was awsome. He also liked the fact that you could pick up and move and change jobs without having to build a new patient base, which I guess would be a non issue now given the increasing hospital employment but still. EM is also in high demand now, so it's easy to get a job just about anywhere, you work less than a PCP and the pay per hour is pretty good, but that also means that you have to work more than avg to pull in the big bucks. So it depends what your goals in life are.

For me, EM did not meet those goals and I would be miserable in EM. But lots of people love EM and there is nothing wrong with that.

Are you going to tell the peds person that they made a bad decision because peds pays crap? No, of course not. I had numerous female classmates go into peds and they love it. Again I would be horribly miserable in peds but they were ecstatic with peds matching. I had some people who matched in surgery and couldn't be happier even though I think surg is out right miserable. so there is a specialty for everyone, and there really is no "good" or "bad" specialty out there.

It really depends what you want. Just a thought.

 

[drhousemd]

......

 

[deleted116380]

Can't say I agree with people here saying EM is a terrible choice...everyone has certain desires in a career and what fits best for them. EM is great if you like dealing with people, having shift-work with no extra work to take home, great pay, and no desire for followups/seeing disease response (or progression) with therapy.

The triage work of EM along with the drug seekers were some the things I didn't like about the rotation. Otherwise, I liked it and don't have anything against the field or those that choose to go into it. I wouldn't hesitate to go into EM if radiology didn't work out for me. Probably that or sports medicine (FM).

 

[XerxesOfPersia]

OP - this may have been said already, but don't switch into Rads because of money/perceived prestige/lifestyle/etc. Those can change at any time (and are changing now BTW) and it will only set you up for disappointment down the road.

 

[shark2000]

ER is over-rated.

Medical students see the superficial part of any field before deciding on residency.

In their IM rotation they see all paper work and do not see the decision making part which is the interesting part.

In radiology, they see the dark reading room, dictation and do not see the exciting aspect.

In ER, they see the interesting part (to them) like putting a central line or CPR, which every medical student loves and most ER attendings hate, AND they do not see dealing with druggies and demanding patients all day.

ER does not have anything by itself that you may like. The only good part is the hours and the pay, i.e. pay per hour. The level of knowledge is superficial and not satisfying and there is nothing cerebral about it. You are a glorified triage nurse. These days the way it is practiced, you can replace an ER doctor with an experienced nurse.

These guys ignore the most important factors that you have to consider:

If you have read it, You have recognized that I have talked about the innate characteristics of a field and that should be your major factor in choosing a field.


The same people who tell you that you should not choose radiology because of perceived lifestyle or money, tell you that you should choose ER because it is in demand job wise. Is there any guarantee that jobs will be available 10 years from now.

If radiology pays the same at family medicine, still it has tons of advantages over family medicine that you can not ignore. The cerebral part will remain, making challenging diagnosis and seeing the best of best cases will remain, the advancement in technology will remain.

Prestige is subjective, money changes, job market changes, job availability changes, BUT dealing with druggies will not change, dealing with demanding patients will not change.

My point is, imaging that ER loses its income and its job market becomes bad, what do you have left to be happy about choosing ER. If there is something left, go for ER. If not, switch.

 

[grayscaleart]

You'll be fine. I'm going to radiology but I also LOVED my EM rotations. Either one is fine. While in the ER, I look at all my images and have picked up many misses by the radiology resident. And you will be awesome in using ultrasound!

 

[XerxesOfPersia]

To clarify, my point is that you should not switch based on the things I mentioned (money, lifestyle, job market) and more based on what characteristics of the field you want to pursue, because those things can change quickly but the field itself really won't.

If you asked me if you should switch to rads, my answer would be 100% yes. But I'm biased of course.

 

[cbtk18]

.

 

[IJL]

I love rads and I am NOT going in to it for the lifestyle, prestige, money, etc, but after reading on here I'm slightly worried that its going to be paying crap in the near futur

 

[shark2000]

I love rads and I am NOT going in to it for the lifestyle, prestige, money, etc, but after reading on here I'm slightly worried that its going to be paying crap in the near futur

It will go down, the same as any other field. It may go down slightly more than some other fields or may not.

If money is important for you, that is obviously very important to you from your post, don't do medicine.

If you are very stressed about the pay cut in radiology, don't do it. Do something else.

As a doctor, no matter what you do, nobody gets paid crap. If 160-180K is crap to you, you are in the wrong field. Many academic people in Orthopedics or surgery gets paid not that higher than that.

Many people who are in radiology and many medical students who are choosing radiology, are super obsessed with Income and life style. I think it is much better that these people step away from radiology and go to other fields.

 

[badasshairday]

Many people who are in radiology and many medical students who are choosing radiology, are super obsessed with Income and life style. I think it is much better that these people step away from radiology and go to other fields.

Yes.

(And those that want to do VIR. Just kidding. )

 

[IJL]

It will go down, the same as any other field. It may go down slightly more than some other fields or may not.

If money is important for you, that is obviously very important to you from your post, don't do medicine.

If you are very stressed about the pay cut in radiology, don't do it. Do something else.

As a doctor, no matter what you do, nobody gets paid crap. If 160-180K is crap to you, you are in the wrong field. Many academic people in Orthopedics or surgery gets paid not that higher than that.

Many people who are in radiology and many medical students who are choosing radiology, are super obsessed with Income and life style. I think it is much better that these people step away from radiology and go to other fields.

I always appreciate your posts, but I can still "love" (in my somewhat limited exposure as a medical student) rads and be a little worried about future income. I think that's normal. It's not like I can pick up at this point and do something else besides medicine - I really like medicine, but I can also worry about finances.

I almost believe that there are no true "lifestyle" specialties anymore. Maybe derm?

 

[dostudent13]

Like I said before, it's definitely not all about income. In fact, I chose EM because it was more "enjoyable" even though it comes with lower pay and it's not the reason I regret my decision. It's just the more I think about it, the more everything mentioned above comes up with regards to hours, the patients, the stress, etc. I'm not "in love" with either specialty or any other specialty and aspects of my personality fit both. It's just that now as I start thinking more about starting residency, I realize I am probably a better fit for radiology and I probably partially based my decision on things I shouldn't have. I mean, I pretty much decided not to do radiology because of the large amount of material you had to know and therefore study, the 6-7 year training and the fact that I started to find it "boring".

Oh well, we'll find out in the next couple years I guess.

 

[shark2000]

I always appreciate your posts, but I can still "love" (in my somewhat limited exposure as a medical student) rads and be a little worried about future income. I think that's normal. It's not like I can pick up at this point and do something else besides medicine - I really like medicine, but I can also worry about finances.

I almost believe that there are no true "lifestyle" specialties anymore. Maybe derm?

You don't have any way to go around it.

Nobody can guarantee that rads or any other field will make a certain income.

You are choosing your field base on the income and you will be disappointed the rest of your life, no matter what you do.

You may do Neurosurgery and when you graduate in 10 years, the field may face a lot of salary cut or you may make 200K while other NS make 1 mil. That is what it is.

 

[konRAD 1]

I'm happy to be in radiology! ;-)